Foot pain, no matter what you like to do for exercise, is a super bummer and, when you head to a medical professional to get it checked out, the answer is often the dreaded "stop exercising."
Foot pain can often be prevented with regular “maintenance”.
- Always warm up and cool down
- Build full body strength with a regular strength training.
- Increase mileage/intensity of workouts slowly.
- Incorporate mobility training and recover into each week of your training plan.
- Complete plyometric workouts, hill repeats, and speedwork no more than 2x per week. Note: These workouts also require more recovery time than steady state cardio and therefore should be well spaced in your training/workout plan.
- Wear supportive shoes for workouts.
- Strengthen your feet with exercise, walking barefoot, dancing, or yoga.
My favorite preventative care: Yoga!
When I was training for my first Ironman, as I ramped up my run mileage, symptoms of plantar fasciitis started creeping in - hard to walk when I got out of bed and pain in the bottom of my feet and edges of heels, so daily preventative care was necessary. Yoga provides a nice balance of mobility, strength, and flexibility that helps me continue running without pain.
Yoga for Healthy Feet
Suffering from foot pain now? Move mindfully into each exercise. You should feel a stretch or the muscle "speaking" to you, but not "screaming" or nerve pain. If you go too far, gently back out of the stretch or release to the point where the sensation is manageable.
Download the Yoga for Healthy Feet Printable.
